Sanofi revamps web presence as part of Empowering Life campaign

PARIS: Sanofi has debuted a redesigned company website as it rounds out its corporate branding campaign Empowering Life.

The drugmaker launched the portal last week across many of its global websites, narrowing its corporate web presence, as well.

"We have three main objectives when we are reviewing the digital ecosystem," said Marlene Tourtoulou, head of digital communications at ‎Sanofi. "The first is create a more compelling platform; the second is to promote our new tagline; and the third is to simplify the ecosystem. We took more than 140 websites worldwide to 70."

The redesign gives Sanofi a fresher, more modern look and makes it easier for visitors, including patients, journalists, employees, or investors, to find what they’re looking for, Tourtoulou said.

Sanofi is also looking to better integrate its corporate site with its social media presence. The redesign puts social media prominently on the homepage alongside company news and owned content.

"We need to explain what we do in an easy way," Tourtoulou said. "Our website is our main platform to promote and spread our purpose...This new platform is totally accessible, responsive, and has full integration of social media."

The company is also telling its story through videos and articles about the process of manufacturing a drug and about successes in its therapeutic areas of focus.

Sanofi launched its global Empowering Life brand campaign in October with support from Paris communications agency ASAP Communications. This campaign was the latest in a string of corporate reputation campaigns from pharma companies such as Pfizer, Merck, Astellas, and trade organization PhRMA.

Sanofi said last month that it has agreed to acquire U.S.-based Bioverativ and Ablynx, headquartered in Belgium, last month. Sanofi’s fourth quarter net income was down 10.8% in the fourth quarter to 1.3 billion euros, missing analyst expectations, while sales were up 4.1% to 8.7 billion euros, according to CNBC.